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Investing.com — U.S. stock markets opened at fresh record highs again on Tuesday, extending a rally that has spanned the end of the old year and the start of 2022 as investors look beyond a short-term spike in Covid-19 cases.
By 9:40 AM ET (1440 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 225 points, or 0.6%, at 36,810 points. The S&P 500 was up 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite took a breather, edging down by less than 0.1%.
Both Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) ran out of steam after Monday’s rallies, Tesla stock inching up 0.5% and Apple stock effectively flat.
Cyclical and ‘value’ stocks appeared to be coming back into vogue, despite a surge in reported Covid-19 cases that threatens to wreak fresh havoc in the short-term on the services industry in particular. The U.S. reported over 1 million new cases on Monday, far surpassing the one-day record for any country in the world. However, even in countries where the new ‘Omicron’ strain has become dominant, such as South Africa, the wave of infections has peaked without overwhelming local the local healthcare system. As such, many market participants are prepared to bet that Omicron will signal the beginning of the end of the pandemic, resulting in faster progress toward herd immunity with only minor associated economic damage.
Among early movers, Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) stood out with a 7.1% gain after the Detroit giant said it plans another big increase in output of its all-electric F-150 pickup truck. The company said it aims to be in a position to produce 600,000 electric vehicles (not just the F-150 model) within two years. Ford still has a window to build a solid position in the electric truck market, given the slow progress in Tesla’s Cybertruck project. That’s in contrast to the market for sedans and SUVs, where Tesla’s record fourth-quarter deliveries underlined how strong its first-mover advantage is in those segments.
